Bob Arum could stand in the way of a Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight. Photo: Reuters

The dream mega-fight of Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao won’t happen in 2014, as Mayweather is scheduled to take on Marcos Maidana in September and Pac-Man will fight Chris Algieri two months later. Still, boxing fans continue to discuss the possibility of the two stars meeting next year.

There’s been much debate about who would win a potential meeting between Mayweather and Pacquiao. The fight has been discussed for so many years that the opinion of boxing experts e has changed over time.

“I used to feel Pacquiao had a pretty good chance of winning the fight,” Showtime broadcaster Al Bernstein told International Business Times in a phone interview. “Then I decided Floyd Mayweather was more likely to win, and I’m still feeling like Mayweather is more likely to win.”

Bernstein said he’d like to see both boxers in the ring one more time before making a final prediction, considering Mayweather’s last fight was so close. The undefeated boxer beat Marcos Maidana in May by majority decision, failing to earn a unanimous decision for just the third time in his career. Mayweather has had few close calls in his career, though he would be at least 38 years old, if he were to ever go head-to-head with Pacquiao.

Mayweather would almost undoubtedly be the favorite over Pacquiao, as he sits at 46-0 heading into the Maidana fight. Pacquiao was actually named an 8-5 favorite over Mayweather in 2009, when it appeared the bout might happen. That likely wouldn’t be the case again, since Pacquiao has five losses, including two that came in 2012. His loss against Timothy Bradley was highly controversial, but Pacquiao was knocked out in the sixth round by Juan Manuel Marquez a few months later.

It appeared that Pacquaio might be heading into the twilight of his career with those two losses. Since then, he’s picked up two victories in convincing fashion, beating Brandon Rios in a unanimous decision and winning back his WBO Welterweight Title against Bradley in April. A win over Algieiri, who recently topped Ruslan Provodnikov, would strengthen his case for a shot at handing Mayweather his first loss.

It’s the fight that fans want to see, but the chances of it happening might be poor. The two sides came close to agreeing on a fight that would have taken place on March 13, 2010, but Pacquiao’s refusal to take a drug test prevented a contract from being signed. Since then, financial and personal issues, including both fighters' relationship with Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, have kept the two apart. The public continues to wondering if the two greatest of their generation will ever fight each other.

“It’s the $64,000 question we’ve been asking forever,” Bernstein said. “I’m just going say no because it keeps never happening and for something that keeps never happening there’s probably just too many impediments to it.”

If the two superstars are ever going to fight, it will probably have to happen in 2015. Mayweather’s contract with Showtime ends next year, and he’s stated that he’ll retire when his deal is up.